


Not every Choice is your Fault

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Chases, Gun Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Police, Psychological Trauma, Suicide, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21937744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Secret Santa gift for YastaghrLife on the Surface for Monsters hadn't gone better, so sadly, it comes as no surprise when Edge gets a call, saying that Papyrus was involved in a police accident and was asked to come and talk to him by Sans
Relationships: Papyrus & Sans (Undertale), Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	Not every Choice is your Fault

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yastaghr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yastaghr/gifts).



As soon as Edge parked his car and got out, he headed straight towards the entrance door. He felt his phone buzz for the third time in this hour and as with all the others, he promptly ignored it. It was probably another person, asking him why he cancelled today’s meeting at the Embassy and Edge had little to no patience to answer these.

He wasn’t even in front of the door when it opened, revealing Sans who, unsurprisingly, looked worse than usual. The other skeleton seemed like someone who just went through at least 10 tiring and long phonecalls while he was pacing around in the house. That was probably as accurate as Edge’s deduction could get, seeing as the phone was still in Sans’s hand and was likely to stay there for another hour or two. Despite all this, Sans still tried to show a calm attitude, even if his eyelights betrayed his thoughts that were going a thousand miles per _second_. And also showed how pissed he was. Something Edge understood and could relate to at this moment.

Edge stepped in, trying to clear his head. He had to be rational about this now, he couldn’t rely on his emotions with this information in his hands. Speaking of which…”Were you able to know more about what happened?” He asked, turning to Sans as he took his coat off.

“Not much, but at least those have been a bit better news than the first ones.” Sans sighed before walking into the livingroom, dropping his phone onto the notes on the table. “Undyne wasn’t allowed to say anything, especially not through phone and I couldn’t teleport there without seeming suspicious. But she did tell me the names of the people I ‘can’ ask. Turns out that three people, two Humans and one Monster, vouched for Paps and they even brought out one of Alphys’s machines to make sure there was no magic used. That’s why they let go Paps this afternoon. But they said they gonna check the footage of some cameras ‘just to be sure’.”

Edge could sense the coldness that came out of Sans with that sentence and felt his own eyelights flare up for a moment. He wanted to join to Sans, having the same negative emotions, because he more than knew what was going on. But that isn’t why he was here. Sans didn’t call him here, telling the news, so that he could flip out. He had to keep it together for someone. The obvious prejudice against Monsters on the side of all this could wait for later, there were more important things to be dealt with. He did save it in his mind to thank Undyne later though.

“And Red?”

“Checking out the police and medical reports currently, to make sure nothing was altered or can be taken out of context for the media later. He’ll also try to sneak into the private meeting that Asgore, Toriel and Frisk arranged with that police department and some of the higher ups in the ministry. They called for one as soon as they heard what happened, but none of us were able to reach them since then. They rather stay silent with us than-“

Edge put his hand on Sans’s shoulder before the other could finish his sentence, stopping him and his rant that wanted to break out. He was never going to say that they weren’t justified feeling angry, quite the opposite, but that didn’t mean they had the right to forget what situation they were in. This was not something that could go out into the public before covering every side first and the fact that no media outlet mentioned anything other than “an accident happened involving Monsters too” so far, meant that the royal family took every effort they have. Even if he wanted to, Edge couldn’t blame them about not informing anyone until they let Papyrus go home, and he knew Sans thought the same. That didn’t mean Edge wasn’t going to thank Undyne for the first snippets as soon as he got the chance. She was loyal to Asgore but also the best friend of Papyrus. She knew how it would’ve affected them, if she also kept silent.

These were probably the reasons why Sans calmed down a moment or two later. He sighed, accepting that it wasn’t time for this kind of talk as he slowly walked to the couch, sitting down on it. “So, you wanna hear the full story so far? Or what I was able to gather so far…”

“Papyrus didn’t talk to you about it?”

“No. He just came back home and when he saw me, he hugged me and said some incoherent sentences to the questions I asked, talking about being fine and going in his room with a numb voice that scared the shit out of me. He was downright catatonic.”

Edge’s eyelights widened, multiple red flags raising in his mind, some thoughts beginning to go haywire, and all of that was immediately pushed away by Sans, who was watching his expression carefully. “He didn’t have LV, Edgelord, not even a smidge of EXP. That’s not why I asked you to come here and talk to him as soon as you can. I just…” Sans fidgeted with his phone giving a long enough pause to make Edge think he wasn’t going to continue before he spoke up again. “I don’t think I’m the best for this. I’m not the one he could talk to about what happened.”

Edge wanted to call his reasoning bullshit for two reasons as soon as he said it: one, because even though he himself wasn’t a Judge, Edge could see that Sans knew somewhat what Papyrus was going through but was either afraid of facing that feeling or denying it, and two, he knew Sans was saying that as self-loathing and it was hard for him to realise that no matter what relationship was Edge and Papyrus in, Papyrus would always choose his brother first and so would Edge, when it came to Red.

But he didn’t voice his thoughts. Someone else was more important at the moment and Edge perfectly knew that after all this settled down a bit, Papyrus and Sans will talk it out. So he just turned towards the stairs, making his way up while saying “Then I will ask him myself. I would rather hear it from him.”

He didn’t wait for an answer from Sans, just continued walking until he was fully standing in front of the door he had to go in. So, with composure held tight and bracing himself for every possible outcome, he knocked.

The red flags came back immediately when there was no answer, not that it would stop Edge. So, instead of knocking again or speaking up, he opened the door into the half dark room, stepping in slowly. It wasn’t hard to find Papyrus, who was sitting at the edge of his race car bed, shoulders hunched. The uniform he usually wore with pride since he became a police officer, was now on his lap, the badge resting on the middle of it, surrounded by his hands. He wore a greyish sweater and pants, but Edge doubted he even looked at what he put on himself. His eyes were telling of that. Two foggy pinpricks, just as much empty as full with no focus on the world. Edge thought that he wasn’t even seeing the badge he was leaning over. His gaze was too far away for that along with his mind. And also too familiar for Edge at the same time.

Maybe he felt someone watching him or his brain finally registered the sound of the knocking moments ago, because Papyrus his head towards him, too twitchy and startled for his emotions to be hidden away. But he still tried for a moment, as soon as he saw it was Edge standing there. The forcefully put up smile was nothing more than a hollow grimace but he still tried. And that made Edge worried the most.

“Papyrus… How are you?”

Such a generic, simple question for them. And yet, Edge knew it would cut the deepest now and he watched Papyrus flinch, grabbing the badge tighter.

“I-! I should be alright, right? I mean, why would I not be fine, I did not do anything wrong after all! In fact, I did not do anything! So why should I not be fine? I am not hurt, just a little bit tired but it’s easy for a skeleton like me to get through that! I just ran after all and just talked! It’s not like I could have done anything else! It’s not like I could have stopped the criminal human if we had the chance to use magic. It’s not like my convincing monologue wasn’t enough like I thought it would be and I could have stopped him with my blue attack or a bone from using that gun, right?”

There was no reply from Edge. He knew that if he spoke up now, this would stop. And it had to get out, all of it before the pressure got strong enough to crack the other. So he waited as Papyrus took a big breath and stood up, dropping the uniform and the badge non-too softly onto his bed and continued.

“And Undyne said I wasn’t even unprofessional about it! As soon as I saw the criminal human I ran after it, just like three other officers! They were very good at it blocking the potential exists and then they even let me have a conversation with the human! They obviously knew how good I was at that and they trusted me that I would catch him in my own way! And yes, it was tense after he pointed his gun towards his own head rather than at me, but I was skilled at convincing him, I thought I was at least! He even started talking back to me, telling his thoughts with unnecessary profanities added to it, about him not wanting to come back with us and that he knew where he would end up and something about being pressured into all this. But I believed he understood my reasoning just like Flowey and Frisk did because the Great Papyrus could never lie when it comes to being a better person. And I thought I was close, but then he heard other officers arriving and he panicked and I-! I… I did not do anything… I knew my blue attack would have stopped him but we are not allowed to use magic and I tried to think of something else, anything, but I could not… I wasn’t fast enough for that! Or what if I the things I tried or said were already not enough and wrong? What if I was failing from the beginning, what if it was already my fault because I didn-!”

It was sudden, an instinctive reaction from Edge as soon as he heard those questions. A reaction he wasn’t allowed to do or be given back in his universe when familiar situations like this happened, whether he saw someone shaking and tearing up as badly as Papyrus or him being in those shoes. So long ago, and yet he couldn’t allow nothing to happen again. So he opened up his ~~(weaknesses)~~ emotions, letting his legs break the distance between them so he could embrace Papyrus and finally stop him, even if he was still somewhat uncomfortable when it came to hugging.

There was a tense moment when Papyrus just stood there between his arms, like a stone statue, before his hands moved to Edge’s back, holding onto his shirt while putting his head on the other’s shoulder. Edge felt him opening his mouth to speak even more, but he didn’t let him talk, not he voiced his own thoughts first.

“It’s not your fault, Papyrus and whatever you are trying to convince you with about this is wrong. His death is not on your shoulders just because he made a choice.”

“But that is why I am not great! I did not make a choice that could have helped him!” The sudden flare of anger in him made Papyrus to push himself away from Edge, even though he was still shaking. “I failed as a protector of both Humans and Monsters!”

“You are not a failure because I know all of this too fucking well!”

The yelled made them both fall silent instantly, the second part of the sentence lingering over them, echoing in their mind, taunting both. One to ask about it even though he knew the answer, and the other to explain, even though he mentioned it before. And that is exactly why Edge was here. Because he could explain. Because he understood this and not just Sans, Papyrus knew this as well.

“There will always be people who do not want to face the consequences. The ones who rather run than face the Judge, especially if it was not fully in their will what they committed. Angel knows how many times I had to run after those people when I was just a Cadet in the Royal Guard. I have seen how far they would go so they won’t end in the Judgement Hall with the king and my brother. Because they all knew what awaited them and they were afraid enough to rather end it there when I found them. But that choice was theirs, not mine, the final say was never on my hands.”

Edge brought up these past events to Papyrus already, but he knew that without reminding him, Papyrus wouldn’t fully believe in his words that came later. He needed to crash most of the doubts now before they grew roots that were the hardest to pull out from the mind. He was too familiar with that outcome and how long they would stay there. He remembered the great length Red and his Undyne went through so he could break free of these. And still, when he sees these past memories, the feeling is there, lingering, possibly forever. So he had to end it somewhat now, at least.

“Papyrus, I know that you are angry at yourself but you cannot save everyone. And you cannot think that every death is on your shoulders. You know that. You have to make decisions and you decided not to use your magic so Monsterkind can be safe. I know that decision was hard but I believe that making this already in the beginning was brave.” While speaking, Edge slowly put his hands on the other’s shoulder leaning in slowly to examine Papyrus’s reaction. When he saw him relax the slightest and no objection, Edge hastily kissed him on the cheek, then softly clanked their foreheads together, staying there.

“I believe you are already doing enough and will continue to do so. I believe in that just as much as you believe in me.”

Edge felt Papyrus’s shoulders shake harder, heard the one bit back sob and saw the tear streak that painted his face and he said nothing more. He already told him everything he wanted to. But he only knew he spoke the right words when he noticed Papyrus’s mouth slowly turn into a shape of a sad smile a minute later.

“Well, now I absolutely did not act like my greatness suggests.”

“Being able to push back and fake your emotions does not mean you are great, so do not even try to leave this room with your ‘usual’ smile.”

“Nyeh, I did not know you can be as hypocrite as my brother.” Chuckled Papyrus and Edge leant away from him to properly look him in the eyelights with an exaggerated browbone lift.

“Takes one to know one.” Edge sighed, his relief making him realise just how tense both of them were. But if Papyrus willingly involved himself in a friendly banter, it meant that he was collected enough not to need him as a pillar anymore. So he slowly removed his hands and let Papyrus lean in now, giving each other a kiss. It wasn’t deep nor passionate but that didn’t matter. It happened so that the other could calm down and get his bearings, and Edge was more than happy to always help out with that.

When they parted, Edge opened his inventory and brought out his scarf, wrapping it around Papyrus’s neck in a smooth motion as a final comfort for now. “You know our brothers will ask you later, right?”

“Yes, I am aware, and I will tell them what happened just…not now? I know Sans will understand after all those times he waltzed around the questions I asked. And he can’t even dance!”

“Neither can us, to be perfectly honest.”

“But we would be better at it, unless Red has some secret talent…”

The suggestion made Edge snort along with Papyrus and then he looked at him again. He knew they didn’t mention everything, it must have also taken a toll on Papyrus that he was brought in for questioning shortly after what happened and that he was treated as a suspect. Just the idea made Edge’s frustration boil within him again and he suspected that Sans was never going to let go of that. Not that he would either. That is why he spoke up again as they were walking to the door.

“You are allowed to be angry, you know that, right?”

“Of course I know! That is why I will intend on not stepping into my Police department’s building this week and take a fully paid sick-leave and let Undyne choose her partner or partners while I am gone!”

Edge was more than sure that half the people in that department didn’t know the amount of paperwork organization Papyrus did on the side when he wasn’t on half day duty. And he was also sure that Undyne knew exactly which officers suggested Papyrus as a suspect to the higher-ups.

He didn’t intend to wish those people good luck in his mind about dealing with Undyne. He just stepped closer to Papyrus as they exited from his room, now being more relieved that the other was going to stay home, where he could be there for him more easily and help him out while the news stations got to know more about what happened. He wasn’t about to leave his love alone when they both needed each other now, in a way.


End file.
